Police arrested a man outside Buckingham Palace on suspicion of possessing an offensive weapon after an incident on Tuesday night.
The Metropolitan Police said a man approached the gates of Buckingham Palace—the traditional home of the British monarch—at 7 p.m. and appeared to throw shotgun cartridges into the grounds of the palace.
In a statement the police said: “These have been recovered and will be taken for specialist examination. The man has been arrested on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon after he was searched and a knife was found.”
The man was also in possess of a “suspicious bag” and, after specialist officers attended, a controlled explosion was conducted as a precaution.
But the bag is not believed to have contained a bomb and the police say they believe the incident is not related to terrorism.
It comes as the Met is preparing a huge security operation for the coronation of King Charles III on Saturday.
Chief Superintendent Joseph McDonald said: “There have been no reports of any shots fired, or any injuries to officers or members of the public. Officers remain at the scene and further enquiries are ongoing.”
It is not known if the king was in residence at the palace at the time of the incident.
Security minister Tom Tugendhat said the incident was a sign of the effectiveness of the police’s operation in London.
Tugendhat said the police and intelligence agencies were mounting a “very complex” security operation around the coronation, which will take place at Westminster Abbey and will be attended by hundreds of world leaders and other VIPs.
Coronation Will ‘Showcase Our Liberty and Our Democracy’
New laws allowing the police to curb protests came into force on Wednesday but Tugendhat said the coronation would “showcase our liberty and our democracy.”Under the new Public Order Act, protesters who block roads could be jailed for up to 12 months.
An official letter warning of the new powers was sent to the campaign group Republic, which is planning a peaceful protest at the coronation.
The CEO of Republic, Graham Smith, said the letter from the Home Office was “intimidatory” and he said: “We’ve been liaising closely with the police about the protest for weeks. We’ve had meetings with them.”
“They’ve said very clearly that they have no problems with our plans. I just can’t understand why the Home Office thinks it’s appropriate to send a letter like that, which was anonymous in terms of no person’s name on it,” he added.
Republic said hundreds of its supporters—who want to abolish the monarchy—will protest in Trafalgar Square on Saturday.
Asked about the letter sent to Republic, Tugendhat said: “They have the liberty that anybody in the United Kingdom has to protest. What they don’t have the liberty to do is to disrupt others and that’s where we’re drawing and making a difference.”
Tugendhat told the BBC’s “Today” programme, “I’m not going to go through the details of what you can or can’t do for fear of encouraging people to find loopholes in it, for very obvious reasons.”
Royal Security Incidents in the Past
There have been a number of incidents in the past involving the monarch.In 1981 Marcus Sarjeant, 17, fired six blank cartridges at the Queen as she rode on horseback during a Trooping the Colour ceremony.
Sarjeant, whose attack was described in court as a “fantasy assassination,” pleaded guilty to a charge under the 1848 Treason Act and was jailed for five years.
The court heard Sarjeant, a loner who was inspired by attempts on the lives of U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Pope John-Paul II, had originally tried to obtain a real gun but had failed and instead fired blanks.
In July 1982 Michael Fagan scaled a wall and climbed a drainpipe, before entering the Queen’s bedroom and sitting on her bed. He was detained in a psychiatric hospital and released in January 1983.
In February 2022 Cameron Kalani, 44, was given a suspended prison sentence after he was spotted climbing over a wall into the grounds of Buckingham Palace in May 2021.
Kalani admitted trespassing on a protected site, possession of a bladed article, and possession of a wrap of cocaine.
Deputy District Judge Roy Brown told him: “You are a very fortunate man indeed. It is just good luck and good fortune that neither you nor anyone else was either seriously injured or killed in the course of your escapade.”
